Hypercane; Is a Mega-Katrina possible ?

I found this interresting article on the web, and since we are in the middle of the hurricane season I thought this to be a interresting subject to discuss.

MIT's Kerry Emanuel describes the worst nightmare hurricane that could ever happen -a "hypercane" with winds raging around its center at 500 miles an hour. Water vapor; sea spray and storm debris are spewed into the atmosphere, punching a hole in the stratosphere 20 miles above the Earth's surface; at landfall, its super-gale-force winds would flatten forests and toss boulders with a 60-foot tsunami-like storm surge flooding nearby shores. The water vapor and debris could remain suspended high in the atmosphere for years, disrupting the climate and the ozone layer.

As the article points out it is verry unlikely such a event will ocure, but it is not inpossible.

To create such a monster storm, parts of the ocean would have to warm up to at least 100 degrees, and only the impact of a large asteroid hitting the tropical ocean or a massive undersea volcano could generate such intense heating. Emanuel and his colleagues theorize that asteroid-triggered hypercanes may have contributed to massive global extinctions millions of years ago.

For the full article see : www.dailygalaxy.com...

For a interresting video about hypercanes see :

www.youtube.com...

Wow, that's a bad sounding storm.

Yes, anything is possible but not everything is probable.

I do believe we may see a category 6 hurricane in the next few years; maybe even this year.

Several scenarios pop into my mind with Igor, his sister and brother brewing in the Atlantic.

Because weather prediction is just what the name implies, we do not know for certainty that the 3 storms will know what we think they are supposed to do.

Igor could stall and combine with the second storm and then the third storm could eventually be drawn into the super storm.

Igor could hit near or directly on Bermuda and curve back south and back to the west making a loop and hit Florida and south Georgia.

There are many more ideas but will stop with the super storm and the looper.

I will not rest well until these three storms are well out to sea and pose no threat to land.
We have an evacuation plan that rolls around in my head constantly during hurricane season.

Weathermen are like medical doctors; they are practising a science that is not exact.

Highly unlikely, almost impossible in fact.

If the ocean reached such a temperature, then we probably wouldnt be here to witness it. Also, that asteroid or super volcanic eruption, would literally have to effect a huge area, to compensate for surrounding weather patterns, to allow such a storm to develop. It would be a frightening looking system if it were to occur

Im also a bit dubiou on the accuracy of the article, considering they put a picture of a supercell thunderstorm on the page. They have absolutely nothing to do with hurricanes, lol.

To me personaly it would also be unlikely,

But what about the theory about the mass extinsion ?

Originally posted by dizziedame
Igor could stall and combine with the second storm and then the third storm could eventually be drawn into the super storm

You could well have a point over here.

Originally posted by dizziedame
Igor could stall and combine with the second storm and then the third storm could eventually be drawn into the super storm.

Actually, thats impossible.

There is only one way that hurricanes can interact, and that is when they circle each other, in what is known as the Fujiwhara effect. This is when two such storm systems rotate around each other. Eventually the outflow from the stronger system will tear apart the weaker one, but in no way, will it increase the strength of the the stronger storm. Do some research on it, its a very interesting topic

reply to post by css1981


Hopefully people remember that when Katrina hit the LA shore is was just a strong CAT 3 Storm......it just hit New Orleans, which has always been a disaster just waiting to happen. If Katrina would have been CAT 5 on landfall, we wouldn't be talking about New Orleans anymore....it would still be underwater.

reply to post by OzWeatherman


thank you for mentioning it. I will start a research about that.